vocational training providers, credentials of students, trainers and assessors, curriculum compliance and training delivery and assessment processes, is another reason being attributed for the improvement in the perception of government’s skill development institutions.

Studies conducted earlier bear this out. The performance evaluation studies of ITIs providing training under Craftsmen Training Scheme carried out by Quality Council of India in 2011 have shown that placement rate in the ITIs which have been upgraded has increased between 80 to 99 per cent, whereas in other ITIs it is 40 to 50 per cent. A mid-term tracer study was conducted under the Vocational Training Improvement Project to measure labour market performance of graduates passed out from government ITIs. Based on this study conducted in 2011-12, 60 per cent of project ITIs’ pass-outs find employment within one year of finishing training, as compared to baseline of 32 per cent conducted in Year 2006-07. Fresh studies are being undertaken to clock performance. In the Skill Development Report of National Skill Development Corporation and KPMG, 460 million is the demand of human resource across the 24 sectors including construction, IT, Textiles & Clothing, Food Processing, Retail, etc. in 2013. This number is expected to reach to 580 million by 2022 —a combination of entry level workforce as well as the existing workforce, which would need to be freshly skilled and upskilled.

As it works to expand skilling programmes through vocational training institutes such as the ITIs and technical colleges, the Centre is also planning a scheme for entrepreneurship development that would introduce specific courses in at least 5,000 colleges over the next three years. The scheme, besides focussing on colleges, also plans to target schools for building awareness as entrepreneurship as a career option.

“We will be helping roll out entrepreneurship modules in at least 3,000 colleges across the country,” Ajay Mohan Goel, executive vice president, Wadhwani Foundation, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Skill Development in January this year, said.